Rights, Justice and Identity

Led by: Dr David Keane

This research cluster looks at the growing role of international law in resolving conflicts and disputes. It considers how situations around the world are increasingly being put before regional and international courts and bodies, such as the European Court of Human Rights, the UN human rights bodies and the International Court of Justice, and how effective these are in dispute resolution. It has a particular focus on questions of minority and indigenous rights as they arise before regional and UN human rights bodies.

The cluster also focuses on global human rights norms and issues of diversity, identity and (in)equality in international relations and peace and conflict studies. Cluster members come from a range of disciplines, such as human rights law, feminist IR, migration studies, and digital governance, among others.

Projects and publications

Projects and publications focus on the mechanisms of international law, both regional (European, African and Inter-American) and international (UN treaty bodies, UN Special Procedures, International Court of Justice), as well as covering a range of perspectives on gender, migration, minority rights, social movements, and broader topics of justice, equality and diversity in the global domain. 

On a practical level, the team has experience in directly bringing issues before UN bodies, having engaged with the State reporting procedure as well as forming part of a legal team litigating on behalf of a minority group against a State. Other current projects include a report with a leading central European minority rights centre on the effectiveness of international minority and indigenous rights caselaw before the UN. Current publications engage the Armenia/Azerbaijan conflict, the Qatar/UAE blockade, and the situation in Palestine among other situations, as raised before international courts and bodies.

Publications

J Eiken, D Keane, Towards an Amicable Solution: The Inter-State Communications Procedure under ICERD, The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals, 2022.

D Keane, Mapping the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination as a Living Instrument, Human Rights Law Review, 2020. 

E Biagini, P Rivetti, Islamist women’s mobilization and agency in the Arab Uprisings and their aftermath in Egypt, In: Women, Agency and Religion: Social and Legal Issues in the Mediterranean Public Space. London: Routledge, 2024.

P Rivetti, S Saeidi, Political Convergence, Surpluses of Activism, and Genealogy: Examining Iran's Quasi-Revolutionary Situation, Iranian Studies, 2023.

P Rivetti, S Saeidi, Re-Assessing the Possibilities and Limits of Liberal Feminism and Women’s Rights Activism in Iran, Afriche e Orienti, 2022.

P Rivetti, F Cavatorta, Revolution and Counter-Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa. Global Politics, Protesting and Knowledge Production in the Region and Beyond, Partecipazione e Conflitto, 2021.